This book uses traditional methods to show that Edith Wharton's learning in literature and the fine arts was unusually masterful, that she applied her knowledge to create new models of literary allusion, and that in her work she planted clues to personal secrets. The effects of this study is to require reassessment not only of the critical possibilities of Edith Wharton's work and the private life about which she was so reticent but also of her position in American literature. The book concludes with the assertion that, as a bridge between the Victorian and modern periods, Edith Wharton should stand independently as an American writer of the first rank
Includes bibliographical references (pages 207-212) and index
Introduction: The sphinx and the furies -- 1. The House of Mirth : structural and thematic allusions -- 2. The Reef : clustered thematic allusions -- 3. The Custom of country : mythic allusions -- 4. The Age of innocence : branching thematic allusions -- 5. The Glimpses of the moon : reverberating art allusions -- 6. The Mother's recompense : umbrella allusions -- 7. Twilight sleep : generic allusions -- 8. The Children : metaphysical allusions -- 9. Hudson River bracketed : layered allusions -- 10. The Gods arrive : more reverberating and layered allusions -- 11. Messages
